Visitor counts fall again in September

Even though September is the start of the fall season, the fall in visitor counts in Mesquite isn’t quite what local hoteliers had in mind.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority report, the number of people visiting Mesquite in September fell 10.5 percent to 94,000 visitors. September 2017 showed 105,000 people coming to town.

September’s decline is the fourth month in a row that visitor counts have fallen in comparison to the year before. That’s in addition to drops in March and April leaving only three months, January, February, and May with positive increases year-over-year.

At this point last year, the total visitor count was 1,042,800. This year, the total count is 995,000.

Interestingly, the gross gaming revenues on a monthly basis through September have all shown positive increases except for February where they fell a slight 1.5 percent. Gaming revenues in Mesquite increased 5.7 percent in September to $10.164 million compared to last year’s $9.614 million.

Gross gaming revenues in Laughlin increased 2.4 percent. The Las Vegas Strip is the only LVCVA reporting location in Southern Nevada that showed a decline in gaming with a 3.7 percent drop. Downtown Las Vegas had a 11.7 percent increase with the Boulder Strip showing a whopping 27.5 percent increase. All of Clark County had a 1.5 percent increase in gross gaming revenues.

Total occupancy in Mesquite fell 5.4 percent to 66.4 percent in September. The average daily room rate (ADR) stayed even year-to-year at $54.89. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) dropped 7.5 percent to $36.45 and total room nights occupied also fell 7.5 percent to 38,000.

Average daily auto traffic on I-15 at the Nevada Arizona border increased 2.4 percent to 28,497 vehicles every day. Auto traffic on I-15 at the Nevada California border increased 1.0 percent while traffic on all major highways into Las Vegas increased 2.4 percent from last September.

Average daily auto traffic on Highway 163 into Laughlin from Arizona fell 1.0 percent. Airline passengers in and out of Laughlin rose 5.9 percent to 19,157 people.

Laughlin’s visitor volume report also showed a decline in its visitor count with a 6.3 percent drop to 147,900 people. Total occupancy decreased 2.8 percent to 61.4 percent. Total room nights occupied also fell to 180,600 constituting a 5.4 percent decline year-to-year.

The ADR in Laughlin dropped 3.5 percent to $49.27 and RevPAR fell 7.7 percent to $30.25.

Visitor volumes in Las Vegas fell 3.1 percent in a year-to-year comparison coming in at 3.458 million people. All other categories in the LVCVA’s report for Las Vegas were also showing negative numbers with ADR down 2.2 percent, RevPAR down 6.2 percent, citywide occupancy dropping 3.7 percent, and total occupancy falling 3.5 percent.

The LVCVA said the negative numbers were “due in part to one fewer weekend day and decreased convention attendance.”